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One threat model is the nearby person at the coffeeshop (or whatever) being able to scan the large QR code that comes up as soon as you click that button in the header. Many other things in the he...
Answer
#2: Post edited
by
Monica Cellio
·
2023-08-13T18:50:57Z (9 months ago)
explaining the status-completed tag
- One threat model is the nearby person at the coffeeshop (or whatever) being able to scan the large QR code that comes up as soon as you click that button in the header. Many other things in the headers are modals/dropdowns, so you might not be expecting that QR code there and might not have considered your surroundings. One thing we could do is to put that QR code behind another click, like an expander, so you have the chance to back out. (Somebody else suggested this in a Discord discussion.)
- Another thing we could do is to not have that button in the header. A button for mobile sign-in is already available on your profile; it seems reasonable to me to have to go there for what I assume is a rare operation.
- Another threat model is the unattended, unlocked computer. I don't know that we would want to impose a second factor on everybody for mobile sign-in (email confirmations can be hard to handle on a phone[^1]), but you can also enable 2FA for your account. 2FA would apply to all logins, not just ones that started with scanning the QR code, so this is a heavier burden than what you're asking for.
- For people who aren't going to use the mobile sign-in QR code anyway, I agree that being able to turn it off would be useful.
- [^1]: Anecdatum: more than once, I have gone down the "forgot password" path on my phone because it was _easier_ than dealing with confirmation links that didn't want to open in the correct browser or weren't easily cut/pasted from an email app. I think I'm reasonably tech-savvy but touch interfaces on small screens are just plain hard for me.
- One threat model is the nearby person at the coffeeshop (or whatever) being able to scan the large QR code that comes up as soon as you click that button in the header. Many other things in the headers are modals/dropdowns, so you might not be expecting that QR code there and might not have considered your surroundings. One thing we could do is to put that QR code behind another click, like an expander, so you have the chance to back out. (Somebody else suggested this in a Discord discussion.)
- Another thing we could do is to not have that button in the header. A button for mobile sign-in is already available on your profile; it seems reasonable to me to have to go there for what I assume is a rare operation.
- Another threat model is the unattended, unlocked computer. I don't know that we would want to impose a second factor on everybody for mobile sign-in (email confirmations can be hard to handle on a phone[^1]), but you can also enable 2FA for your account. 2FA would apply to all logins, not just ones that started with scanning the QR code, so this is a heavier burden than what you're asking for.
- For people who aren't going to use the mobile sign-in QR code anyway, I agree that being able to turn it off would be useful.
- **Update:** We removed the control from the top bar (it remains on your user profile), and the QR code is now initially collapsed (with a warning).
- [^1]: Anecdatum: more than once, I have gone down the "forgot password" path on my phone because it was _easier_ than dealing with confirmation links that didn't want to open in the correct browser or weren't easily cut/pasted from an email app. I think I'm reasonably tech-savvy but touch interfaces on small screens are just plain hard for me.
#1: Initial revision
by
Monica Cellio
·
2023-08-03T16:06:04Z (9 months ago)
One threat model is the nearby person at the coffeeshop (or whatever) being able to scan the large QR code that comes up as soon as you click that button in the header. Many other things in the headers are modals/dropdowns, so you might not be expecting that QR code there and might not have considered your surroundings. One thing we could do is to put that QR code behind another click, like an expander, so you have the chance to back out. (Somebody else suggested this in a Discord discussion.) Another thing we could do is to not have that button in the header. A button for mobile sign-in is already available on your profile; it seems reasonable to me to have to go there for what I assume is a rare operation. Another threat model is the unattended, unlocked computer. I don't know that we would want to impose a second factor on everybody for mobile sign-in (email confirmations can be hard to handle on a phone[^1]), but you can also enable 2FA for your account. 2FA would apply to all logins, not just ones that started with scanning the QR code, so this is a heavier burden than what you're asking for. For people who aren't going to use the mobile sign-in QR code anyway, I agree that being able to turn it off would be useful. [^1]: Anecdatum: more than once, I have gone down the "forgot password" path on my phone because it was _easier_ than dealing with confirmation links that didn't want to open in the correct browser or weren't easily cut/pasted from an email app. I think I'm reasonably tech-savvy but touch interfaces on small screens are just plain hard for me.